structural

1. 1
   adjective

   Relating to structure: the arrangement of parts that make up a whole.

   The grammarians traced the structural patterns shared across the dialects.

   A structural reorganization shifted three departments under a single director.

   Similarorganizational, systemic, formal, compositional

   Oppositecosmetic, superficial

   Note

   The broad sense, and the one the word was first formed for: structure plus -al, a nineteenth-century coinage. Thomas Young uses it in 1814 to sort diseases by the body's systems, and it still serves anatomy, as in structural differences in the brain. Unlike the engineering sense, it says nothing about bearing weight. A structural difference is one of arrangement, not of strength.

2. 2
   adjective

   Concerned with the mechanics of how a building or framework is constructed and supported.

   The collapse was traced to a structural flaw in the support beams.

   A structural engineer assessed whether the walls could bear the added weight.

   Similarconstructional, architectural

   Oppositecosmetic, decorative

3. 3
   noununcountable

   Steel manufactured in standard shapes for use as the load-bearing framework of buildings, bridges, and other construction.

   The yard delivered enough structural to frame the entire warehouse.

   The fabricator cut the structural to length before sending it to the site.

   Similarsteelwork

   Note

   A trade word made by clipping: structural steel is shortened to structural, so the adjective comes to name the material itself. In commerce it usually appears in the plural. The United States International Trade Commission wrote in 1982 of imported structurals, meaning the standard rolled shapes such as beams, channels and angles. Outside the steel trade, the full phrase structural steel is the clearer choice.

Showing meanings only. Show all 3